Planograph co



E. SCHNEIDER.

FIELD GUN CARRIAGE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.1916.

Patented July 29, 1919.

6 SHEETSSHEET I.

OGRAPH cm. WASHING-row. u. c.

E. SCHNEIDER.

FIELD GUN CARRIAGE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.1916.

Patented July 29, 1919.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH c0.. WASHINGTON. nhc.

E. SCHNEIDER.

FIELD GUN CARRIAGE.

I APPLICATION FILED JULY 3. I916.

Patented July 29, 1919.

6 SHEETSSHEET 3.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH co., WASHINGTONJDI c.

E. SCHNEIDER.

FIELD GUN CARRIAGE.

APPLICATION FILED JUYLY 3,1916.

Patented July 29, 1919.

6 SHEETS--SHEET 4.

THE COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPM c0.. WAsulNd'roN, D. c.

E. SCHNEIDER. 4 FIELD GUN CARRIAGE. I APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.1916.

Patented July 29, 1919.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5 THE COLUMBRA PLANOGRAPH 60.. WASHINGTON. n. c.

E. SCHNEIDER.

FIELD GUN CARRIAGE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3.1916.

Patented July 29, 1919.

6 SHEETSSHEET 6.

I THE COLUMBIA PLANCIGRAPH c0.. WASHINGTON, n.. c.

UNITED "STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE SCHNEIDER, or LE'GEEUZOT,' FRANCE,.ASSIGNOR TO SCHNEIDER &' ciia,"or riinisrRA n-in ALIMITED; .ioiivi srocK COMPANY or FRANCE.

'--: IFIELDLGUN CARRIAGE. '5

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 'July 29, 191 9;

T0 all'whom-it mag concern:

Be it known thatrI, EUGENESOH IDER, a citizen of the Republic 7 of 7France, residing at Le Creuzot, France, have invented anew and usefulImprovement in" Field-Gun Qarriages, vwhich is fully s'et 'forth' in thefollowing specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in gun carriages and moreparticularly to gun carriages, in which there is a gun supporting frame'mo'unted'to rotate about a vertical axis ona lower carriage frame, andha's'for its object to provide gun carriages of this type withmeansffor,di-

-recting the. fire of the gun with reference to which may be the lowercarriage frame carryin'g'with it the upper gun-supporting V I "readilyunderstood, reference is had, by way frame or a special frame movablewith the upper gun-supporting frame, Forindirect sighting the sightingdevice is mounted on the lower carriage frame and is sighted on a'distant object along a line passing through the virtual vertical axisfofrotation of the upper carriagej frame. line becomes a base line or anauxiliary sighting line on which the indirect'sighting'device is to bemaintained during fir ng at any particular targetQ With thisarrangement, a'directing E v p struct on of the improved gun carriage;mined angle with the base line and pass ng line of sight is selected'niaking any predeterthrough the axis of rotation oftheuppergun-supporting frame.f[When the indirect the line IV5IV of'Fig, 3, and,7

sighting device is mounted on the lower gearriage frame, this directingline of sight preferably passes through the'zero pointo'f the untraining arc mounted onthe'lower can riag-e frame. When the indirectsighting device is mounted nia ;s amte movable I am th di ting l i z f ih mamas through any predetermined fixed point such as at distantsighting po nt;

iary sighting line'land the line V passing ,i hrough eacholiject and theaxis rotation of the'upper gun carriagew frame is'previously determinedby a theodoliteor other suitable angle-measuring device; This anglealgebraically added to the fixed angle between tl1 bELSE line and thedirecting line of sight g ves the angle on the firing scale mounted, forexample,"onithe' lower carriage ,frame which to guide thegunneriinindirect aiming. Thereafterfiring-is effected without taking fresh aimfor each object. The gun is aimed by training its longitudinal axisthrough the predetermined angle for indirect aiming.

Any deviations from the'correct training line that may be causedfby thefiring are corrected by bringing tlieiauxiliary sigh-ting line back toits original position by means of 7 adjusting mechanism adapted torestore the sighting device support or'frame to its original 'positionand may actto restore the lower carriage frame to thisposition in whichcase themechanism'is. located to act on the gun trail, or it may; act;to move. a separate sup.- port for the sighting device inwhichcase 'itis mounted on the lower carriage frame asshown in Figures 6 and 7..

Inorder that the invention may be more of example,- to the accompanyingdrawings assist the description butnottodefine the 1 limits thereof, 7 5a a 3 In said drawings? Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the-use 'Figs;'2 "to. illustrate one example of con- Fig; 2 being a side elevation,'Fig. 3 a plan,

Fig. 4 a 'vertical'longitudinal section on line v -v.

'or'rig-alsho in m an.

Figsf6 and 7 are respectively aside elevation partly vertical section,and a' plan,

partly in horizontalsectionsof'a secondexamplebf construction of theimproved, field gun carriage constructed as to provide finde-"pendenc'y'between the line of sight and the horizontal displacements ofthe gun. 7

Referring 'first to'iFigs. 1 to 5, A is a s lide or'cr'adle on which thegun barrel is jwhich-show two constructional forms of the IIIVQIIUOD.Thesedrawi-ng's are intended'to mounted so as to be capable of slidinglongi semi-circular base 13 is adapted to revolve about a virtualvertical axis 0 on a concen trio guide G? of the lower carriage O-.-'C-C'.l

This lower carriage comprises a curved axle D having its center ofcurvature in imagi:

nary vertical axis'O which is the common center of the base 13 of theupper mounting and of the guide C 1 Y The upper mounting B 'B B inpivoting about its. imaginary axis 0, bears in front up'on'the curvedaxle DI, and at the rear upon the guide C} formed on: the head of thelower carriage CC C with Which the carriage trail C forms one piece.

According to this inyention the upper mounting is provided with abracket E, and the lower carriage is; jgrovided with a bracket F;' bothbrackets e'ing designed'to support one and the same] sighting apparatusG which canbe plaeed'atwill upon the bracket F as indicated in {fulllines in Fig.

2, or upon the; bracket E as indicated in dash and dot lines in thesa'mefigure.

In the example 'showm the lower carriage A o is adapted to be adjustedtransversely along the anc'horingplate H by any suitable mechai'ii'sin,for instance such as is illustrated in Figs. 3', 4 and 5. This ad-'justment allows of correcting deviations from'the line of'airn due t6successive firing.

This mechanism comprises a worm I journaled in the trail C and] adaptedto move along a rack J on the anchoring plate H. A bevel pinion 'zjfixed tothe worm I engages apinion K which is driven bym'eans of aremovable hand-"wheel N through'g earing I M-W 41 By means of thisadjjustment, any deviations from the correct training line that'may'becaused by, the firing are corrected by bringing the sighting line backupon the given sighting point such as Z.

' The training meehanismaor, the upper gun-carriage mounting B B Bcomprises a hand-wheel P fixed'on shaft p journaled in the uppermounting which actuate/"s, through gearing p- 'p .p%,p -;ep a

pinion Q fixed on a vertical axle g" journaled in the upper mounting, Qis a pinion carriedby ;the upper mounting and engages circular rack (Zformed Qnthe'eurved axle D, the upper side of which carries graduatedscale from which the various training angles can be read i (Fig.

The device thus far described operates as follows: i 7

The lower carriage having.;been bro i'i'ght into positionand anchoredatthe point a; (Fig. 1) so as to cover a sector O X -:v X -O, thenindirect firing isjaimed upon any given target Y sit'uated at any pointof V pinion ternal teeth 29.

the sector, by placing the sighting apparatus G on 1the,b-raeket.F ofthe-lower carriage, and training the by sighting continuously any givenauxiliary sighting point Z along the line O-Z, which incloses a constantangle a with a fixed directing line such asth'e line Ow bisccting theangle subtended by the are Xw X. The angular relati'ons'of the'lines ofsight of the targets Y, Y Y to the base line OZ are previously measuredby any suitable means, and the values i-B, a-B ci-B which give theangular displacel'nent of these lines of sight with the fixed directingline of sight determined. The upper mounting BB B is now successivelytrained by operating training wheel P about axis 0 on the lower carriageas indifc'ated by the values oz-B, 2 B and f zB The angle of firerequired to hit targets Y, Y Y is thus obtained indirectly without thenecessity of taking a fresh sight for firing as the target is han ed. A

, 7 Should the firing cause a deviation from the correct training line,this error is corrected by adjustingthe lower carriage trail across itsanc'hori'ngspade plate H.

If new it is desired to change from indirect aiming to direct aiming, asfor instance, at an aerial target, the sighting a'ppar-ans G istransferred from the bracket to the bracket E. The training that hasbeen performed by the right-hand man will now be performed by theleft-hand man who therefore now serves thesighting apparatus, theremovable handwheel N being trans- .ier'r'ed for this purpose into theposition N :and only sighting apparatus G for inclirect firing; insteadof being mounted on the .Iowercarriage 'CC -C, is carried by an armSfixed by means of a stud screw 8 to a fcir'c'ular rack T whichisficoncentric to and 'novahle in the curved axle D. The circufl'ar'rack T has two series of rack teeth, -name1y, 1interna1- teeth t engagedby the Q of the upper mounting, and ex- By-means of the external teeth tthe circular rack T with the arm S and the bracket F can be shiftedalong the hollow axle around the imaginary axis of pivotatidn O, forinstance by means of the ,g armggT comprising the removable hand- ;wheelwhich mounted on an axle U journaled 1n the lower carrlage side frame C,and drives through the gearing u, w, 01, u a plnron 11 fixed on an axlewhich carrles a worm engaging the external teeth t and journaled in abracket bearing V attached to or formed on the curved axle D. Infollowing the movementsof the circular rack T, the stud 8 moves in aslot (5 formed in the curved axle.

It will be readily perceived that the motion imparted by the hand-wheelN to the circular rack T, will be transmitted through the internal teeth25 to the pinion Q which is rendered stationary by any suitable knownautomatic jamming device not shown, and consequently to the entirestructure constituted by the upper mounting and the gun barrel carriedby the latter.

The training movements imparted by the hand-wheel P will in no wayaffect the position of the circular rack T, nor that of the bracket Ffor the sighting apparatus. The arrangement thus provides also asighting means having an independent line of sight in the horizontalplane.

WVhat is claimed is 1. In combination, a field gun carriage comprisingan upper gun-supporting frame and a lower carriage frame on which saidupper frame is adapted to train about a virtual vertical axis in ahorizontal plane of said carriage frame, and a sighting device supportedon said carriage frame and hav ing its line of sight passing throughsaid axis, and means for keeping the sight of said sighting device setalong a predetermined base or auxiliary sighting line through said axisfor indirect aiming of the gun in reference to said base line. I

2. In combination with a field gun carriage comprising an uppergun-supporting frame and a lower carriage frame on which said upperframe is adapted to train in a horizontal plane about a virtual verticalaxis within said carriage frame, a sighting device supported on saidlower frame and having its line of sight passing through said axis, andmeans for keeping the sight of said device set along a predeterminedbase line or auxiliary sighting line through said axis for indirectaiming of the gun.

3. In combination with a field gun carriage comprising an uppergun-supporting Copies of this patent may be obtained for frame and alower carriage frame on which said upper frame is adapted to train in ahorizontal plane about a Virtual vertical axis within said carriageframe, a sighting device adapted to be interchangeably supported oneither frame, said device When supported on the lower frame having itsline of sight passing through said axis, and

means for moving said lower frame to keep a sighting device adapted tobe interchangeably supported on either frame, said device when supportedon the lower frame having its line of sight passing through said commoncenter, and means for moving said lower frame to keep the sight of saiddevice when moimted thereon set along a predetermined base line orauxiliary sighting line passing through said center for indirect firingof the gun.

5. A field gun carriage as claimed in claim 3 wherein the means formoving the lower frame for correcting deviations of the line of sight ofthe sighting device from the auxiliary sighting line through said axiscomprises means for training the gun trail of the lower gun carriageabout a fixed anchoring point of the trail.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses. V

EUGENE SCHNEIDER.

Witnesses CHAS. P. PREssLY, R. H. SEVELINGER.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

